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LETTER 

OF 

EX-PRESIDENT VAN BUREN. 



JUNE 28, 1856. 









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LiNDENWALD, June 28, 1856. 

Gentlemen : — I feel myself honored by the invitation of the Tammany 
Society to unite with its members in their annual celebration of the anniver- 
sary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. There is no portion 
of my fellow-citizens with whom it would give me more pleasure to be asso- 
ciated on an occasion so dear to the American heart, because I know of none 
who have more faithfully adhered to the spirit of that immortal document. 
I therefore the more regret that I am deprived of that gratification by ad- 
vanced age, and my distance from your place of meeting. 

You have been pleased to bring to my notice the re-union of the two sec- 
tions of the Democratic party, and by necessary implication, the objects to 
which their combined energies are to be directed in the approaching Presi- 
dentdal, Election. The Committee of Arrangements for the meeting lately 
held in your city, to ratify the Cincinnati nominations, honored me with an 
invitation. Hoping that the notoriety of the fact, that I had for several years 
declined to take part in political meetings, might, by friends whose indul- 
gence I had so often experienced, be deemed sufficient excuse for the seeming 
discourtesy, and being, moreover, earnestly desirous to avoid any participa- 
tion in the partisan discussions of the day, I ventured to allow their note to 
pass without a reply. To leave a second invitation, of substantially the same 
import, and coming virtually from the same source, unanswered, might, I 
fear, in the estimation of those whose opinion I can never cease to respect, 
expose me to the suspicion of being desirous to conceal my sentiments upon 
the political questions before the country. I shall, therefore, with a settled 
purpose that this letter, as it is the first, shall also be my last appearance in 
the canvass, save only at the ballot-box, to deposit my vote, give you my 
views upon the subjects referred to without reserve. 

I am happy to receive your assurance that the too long dissevered sections 
of the Democratic party in this State, have, upon the principles you describe, 
and in which I fully concur, " become united into one compact body." No 
free coun.try can ever be without political parties ; and among the devices of 
mere factions there never has been one more sinister and deceptive in its 
character and objects, than the no party cry which is ever and anon declaim- 
ed from our political stage. That party to which we have all been so long 
attached, has doubtless, not been always perfectly right in its movements, 
because perfection does not appertain to man or to associations of men. But, 
with this qualification, I think I venture nothing in saying, that of all the 



political parties which have arisen in this or any other country, there has not 
been another, in the formation and history of which, there have been such 
exclusive regard and devotion to the maintenance of human rights, and the 
happiness and welfare of the masses of the people. It had its origin in the 
necessity of an effective union of the root and branch friends of the Republi- 
can system to preserve the fruits of our Revolutionary struggle, by preventing 
the Federal Constitution from being perverted to purposes neither contem- 
plated by those who framed it, or anticipated by those who ratified it, but 
hostile to the republican principle upon which it was founded. It has for 
more than half a century employed itself perseveringly and successfully, in 
resisting the revival of heresies which it had defeated in the first stages of 
its existence, and in maintaining the sanctity of the written Constitution, 
without which our form of government must prove a delusion and a mockery. 

Almost unaided by its political rival, it carried our country through the 
war of 1812, the result of which contributed more to elevate our national 
character and to increase our power, than any other measure or series of 
measures since the recognition of our Independence. It has, after a protract- 
ed and severe struggle, not only relieved the country from the incubus of 
National Banks, but forever exploded the idea of the necessity of such insti- 
tutions, and established a constitutional system for the safe keeping of the 
public moneys, and the performance of duties for which a National Bank 
was claimed to be indispensable ; this system, after having been the leading 
object of the fiercest partisan assaults, having by its salutary action won not 
merely the acquiescence, but the positive favor of all parties, a result which 
it may with truth be said, has not been realized by any other public measure 
that encountered similar partisan hostility, since the adoption of the Consti- 
tution. 

But the limits of a letter will not admit of an enumeration, much less an 
examination, of the advantages secured to the country, by the rise and pro- 
gress of the Democratic party. To restore and preserve the unity of a party 
which can boast of such a history, may, very properly, be regarded as a mat- 
ter of National concern, especially in respect to the influence it is, when 
united, capable of exerting in a State to which has been conceded the high 
honor of having, by its unexampled exertions and complete success, secured 
the republican triumph in the civil revolution of 1800 — which has, on subse- 
quent occasions, rescued the Democracy of the Nation from impending defeat, 
by interposing in its favor a vote which no other State could give, and with- 
out the support of which no man has yet reached the Presidential office. 

It needed not our recent experience to show that occasional disruptions of 
party ties are unavoidable in respect to all political associations. While 
they continue, discomfiture and humiliation are the portion of the disjointed 
sections. Of these, you have on both sides had your full shares, and justice 
to yourselves as well as to the general interest, required that you should put 
an end to them by a re-union, whenever that could be accomplished without 
dishonor. There is no reason to question the good faith with which the con- 
flicting opinions that lay at the foundation of our divisions were entertained ; 
and we would have been more than men, if in enforcing our respective views , 
in moments of great excitement, there had not been faults on both sides. 
You have well decided to forget past collisions, and to enter upon a generous 
rivalry in the sacrifice of personal feelings upon the altar of harmony. This 
is the best, if not the only way, in which such re-union can be made efi'ectual. 

The subject upon which we have difi'ered, is that which now furnishes the 
leading issue between the principal parties in the coming election, and to 
which all other matters have become subordinate — that of slavery in the Ter- 
ritories. My own course in regard to it has been one, by the record of which 
I shall always be willing to be judged, whenever and wherever the acts of an 



individual are deemed of sufficient importance to attract attention. The same 
thing can, I doubt not, be said by those of you who have differed from me, 
and there we must leave that matter. We cannot control each other's opi- 
nions, when arguments fail to convince, and should not desire to do so if we 
could. I have, from the beginning, preferred the mode of dealing with the 
subject of slavery in the Territories adopted at an early day by the founders 
of the Government, and continued to a recent period, and have uniformly re- 
sisted a departure from it. No man in the country can have been more 
sincerely opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. I was informed 
of it under circumstances calculated to make an American most sensitive in 
regard to all domestic acts from which he thinks there is reason to appre- 
hend danger to the perpetuity of our political institutions — in a foreign land, 
surrounded by the subjects and advocates of despotic power. Deeply sensi- 
ble of its injustice, and foreseeing the extent to which the measure would 
re-open slavery agitation — the deleterious effects of which few were more 
capable of appreciating than myself— I did not hesitate to condemn the act. 
But the measure has been accomplished, and the question that presents itself 
to those who agreed with me in that condemnation is, what is the best step 
to be taken next in the matter with reference simply to the public interest? 
The propositions brought into view by the principal parties in the approach- 
ing election, consists of: 1st. The restoration of the Missouri Compromise ; 
2d. The settlement of questions relating to slavery in the Territories by the 
direct legislation of Congress ; 3d. The immediate admission of Kansas as 
a Free State, under the Topeka Constitution; and 4th. The execution of the 
Nebraska-Kansas Act without regard to the latter movement. 

Upon each of these propositions I will say enough to possess you with my 
views in regard to them. 

It is worthy of remark that, notwithstanding the seeming fitness of the 
form of redress embraced in the first proposition, there has not, from the 
beginning, been anything like unanimity in opinion on the part of those 
most opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, in favor of making 
its restoration a principal issue in the contest. This has doubtless arisen in 
part from a distrust of success, founded on the political condition of the 
Senate, the length of time it must take to press the point with a hope of its 
accomplishment, and the weight of influence the proposition must encounter. 
But other considerations have, I believe, contributed to this result. The 
only Territories left for the Missouri Compromise to act upon, if it were 
restored, are those in Texas and in Kansas. The restoration of the compro- 
mise, if effected, might come in season for the conversion of the Texas Ter- 
ritory into a slave State or States, but one can scarcely doubt that the Kansas 
question will have been settled before that of the restoration of the Compro- 
mise, with however much energy the latter might be urged. 

Of the restoration of the old mode of settling such questions, I will speak 
hereafter. 

The Convention which framed the Topeka Constitution was convened 
without specific authority from Congress, in despite of the will of the Terri- 
torial Government, which is recognized as legitimate by the Federal Execu- 
tive, and did not even profess to represent more than a part of the people of 
the Territory. But the objections to the admission of a new State into our 
Confederacy, organized under such circumstances, are sought to be removed 
by the grave charges that the legislative branch of the existing Territorial 
Government was not chosen by the people of the Territory, but by lawless, 
and, in some instances, armed intruders from Missouri, who interfered in 
the matter, with a design to make the Territory a Slave State, against the 
wishes of a majority of the people thereof— that a redress of this grievance, 
through the instrumentality of the judiciary, is, for reasons assigned, imprac- 



6 

tieable, and that the Presided^ and Territorial Governor appointed by him, 
desiring to promote the policy of the Missouri invaders, refused to extend to 
the actual resident of the Territory the protection, in respect to the exercise 
of the right of suffrage, to which they were entitled under the organic law. 

I do not think it necessary, in the views I have taken of the subject, to 
enter into a discussion of the truth of these charges. Congress doubtless pos- 
sesses the constitutional power to dispense with the preliminary steps which 
have usually been required for the admission of a State into the ITuion. But 
considerate men vnll, I think, admit, that even assuming these charges to be 
in the main, well founded. Congress ought not to be asked to act in so sum- 
mary a way, and upon so grave a matter, except as a last resort, and after 
every attempt to secure to the Territory a peaceable and regular State 
organization have been exhausted. The case before us has not yet, I think, 
arrived at that condition, and this brings me to the consideration of the 
fourth proposition, viz. the carrying out of the Nebraska-Kansas Act. 

I am free to confess, that I have for some time past regarded this act with 
more favor, than I did when it was first presented to my consideration as the 
instrument by which the Missouri Compromise was overthrown. This may 
have arisen from the fact, that I have fdlt myself compelled to regard it as 
the only attainable mode by which the country can hope to be relieved from 
the injurious and demoralizing effects of slavery agitation ; or it may hav.e 
been produced by the great unanimity with which its principles have been 
adopted in all parts of the country, by a political party, in which I have been 
reared, and upon the maintenance of which, in its wonted purity, I consci- 
entiously believe the future welfare of the country will depend. I believe 
also, that the people of the Free States, when the resentment justly excited 
by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise has subsided, and more especially 
when they shall have witnessed a fair and peaceable execution of the provi- 
sions of that Act, will generally regard it as a mode for the settlement of 
slavery questions, by which they will stand a better chance to have their 
feelings and opinions upon the subject respected, and one less exposed to 
exti-aneous and improper influences, than has been the case with specific 
congressional legislation. I have not the leisure, if I deemed it necessary, 
to assign the reasons which have brought my mind to this conclusion. The 
points in regard to the measure itself can be stated in a few words. The 
authority of Congress to transfer to the people of the Territories all the power 
it possesses under the Constitution to legislate for the Territories, has, as far 
as I know, never been questioned. It has been exercised from the com- 
mencement of the Government, in respect to all the proper subjects of legis- 
lation, from the highest to the lowest Not having a copy of the Nebraska- 
Kansas Act, I take its provisions in regard to the authority it professes to 
confer, from Mr. Buchanan's admirable letter of acceptance, where the sub- 
ject is, I doubt not, fairly presented. He thus describes it: "This legislation 
is founded upon principles as ancient as the Government itself, and in 
accordance with them has simply declared that the people of a Territory, like 
those of a State, shall decide for themselves whether slavery shall or shall 
not exist within their limits ; * * * declaring it to be the true 
intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory nor 
to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form 
and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the 
Constitution of the United States. 

From these terms it is too clear to admit of dispute or cavil, that it was 
the intention of Congress to clothe the people of the Territories with ample 
power to exclude slavery from within their respective limits, as well while 
they continued Territories as in making provisions for its exclusion from the 
State, when that transition shall take place. The only question that can be 



raised upon the act in tiiis regard, must relate to the effect of the grant ; 
fiiat is, whether the Constitution authorizes Congress to clothe the people of 
the Territories with a power to exclude slavery therefrom, while they remain 
Territories. I have not the slightest doubtof the power of Congress to give 
this authority to the people of the Territories. But it is, I think, quite cer- 
tain, that if the objection raised in behalf of the Slave States in respect to 
legislation for the government of the Territories is well founded, that objec- 
tion could not be obviated, either by the restoration of the Missouri Compro- 
mise, or by the re-adoption of the old mode of settling the question of slavery 
in the Territories, by the direct legislation of Congress. Whether these 
questions are settled by the act of the people of the Territories, or by the 
direct legislation of Congress, or by the restoration of the Missouri Compro- 
mise, (so far as that would reach,) the validity of the settlement in ^ach case, 
and to an equal extent, rests upon an Act of Congress and upon the constitu- 
tionality of that Act; and this would, of course, have been the case if the 
Nebraska-Kansas Act had not recognized in terms the subjection of the 
powers it intended to grant to the Constitution. 

Mr. Buchanan, in his letter of acceptance, pledges himself to the people, 
" should the nomination of the Convention be ratified by the people, that all 
the power and influence constitutionally possessed by the Executive shall be 
exerted in a firm but conciliatory spirit, during the single term he shall 
remain in ofiice, to restore th» same harmony among the sister States which 
prevailed before the apple of discord in the form of slavery agitation, had 
been cast into their midst." He knows that this pledge can be redeemed in 
but one way, and that is, by securing to the bona fide settlers of the Terri- 
tory, if matters should be allowed to remain as they now stand, the full, free 
and practical enjoyment of the rights intended to be granted to them by the 
organic act, including that of free suffrage ; and no one will understand bet- 
ter than he, that nothing short of the substance of those rights would answer 
the purpose, or satisfy the excited and vigilant scrutiny of those who will 
watch every step that is taken in the matter. Doubts were at one time 
thrown out — I know not from what quarter — in regard to the power of the 
Executive to give this security ; but affairs now in progress, show that these 
doubts, if they ever existed, have been dispelled. The Constitution makes 
it the express duty of the Federal Executive to see that " the laws are fully 
executed ;" and he is clothed with powers adequate to its performance. 

Will Mr. Buchanan, if elected, redeem his pledge? I believe he will, and 
therefore I will cheerfully support him. All that can be asked of him is to 
do equal and exact justice to every section of the country — to exercise the 
high powers with which he will be invested to secure the object in view, as 
well because it will be right so to do, as because there may be reason to fear, 
that the existence of the Government itself may depend upon his securing it. 
So much has been said in regard to the dangers with which the Union is 
threatened, as to ,requiro no inconsiderable effort on the part of an earnest 
man, to touch upon the solemn theme, for fear he might be suspected of a 
desire to prostitute it to comparatively petty purposes. But all must admit \% 
to be certain, that there never was a period in the history of this Republic, 
when sectional animosities were so rife, or had, to so great an extent, inflamed 
the masses of the people. If the Confederacy shall prove strong enough to 
withstand these torrents of bitter waters, it will afford the best evidence that 
the love of union is as deeply impressed upon the American heart as its most 
sanguine friends have imagined it to be. I see good grounds for hope, that such 
may be the happy issue out of our present alarming condition, in the pros 
pect of Mr. Buchanan's election. He is neither an untried man, or one of 
ordinary stamp. He has for along time been favorably known to the public 
service, and comes before the country with a character already formcd,-and 



8 

a mind thoroughly trained in the school of experience. In regard to the 
future action of such a man, his constitaents are not left to conjecture and 
hope, but may form positive opinions. He has established a foreign reputa- 
tion, in regard to which he cannot fail to be solicitous. He has, with charac- 
teristic good sense, relieved himself from the imputation of being influenced 
by a desire to conciliate any special or partial interest, with a view to a re- 
election, and his acts from misconstructions, which the suspicion of being so 
influenced might engender. That a man with such antecedents, and occu- 
pying such a position, acting in a matter of sufficient interest to attract the 
attention of the world, and in the presence of a free and intelligent people, 
among whom he w'as reared and expects to spend the evening of his 
life, can fail to perform his entire duty, when the path that leads to it is so 
plain, that "the wayfaring man, though a fool, could not err therein," is a 
consummation that I am very certain can never be realized. 
I am very truly yours, 

MAKTIN VAN BUREN. 

To Messrs. Murphy, Shepard, Fowler, Kelly, "Wheelan, Purdy and others, 
Committee of Arrangements of the Tammany Society. 



WILLIAM RICE, PRINTER, 46 SOUTH THIRD STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 



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